Grace Baptist Church of Danville November 22, 2009
In Romans 8:29 God the Holy Spirit declares that all who are justified in time, (That is to say, all who were justified by the obedience of Christ unto death at Calvary and all who are consciously justified by faith in the sweet experience of grace), were justified when they were predestinated. — Yes, God’s elect were and are eternally justified in Christ. We were accepted in the Beloved before the world began.
Bro. Larry Criss will preach the gospel to you today. I am preaching today for our missionary in St. Croix, Bro. Daniel Parks. Shelby and I will return tomorrow, the Lord willing.
Praise the Lord! He never changes! — Don Fortner (Tune: Love Divine — 87.87D)
Praise the Lord! He never changes! Come, extol His worthy name! Yesterday, today, forever, Behold, God remains the same! Satan led his great rebellion; and our father Adam fell. Yet our God remains unshaken, and unaltered is His will!
Though God’s Son assumed our nature, He is still unchanged, our God! Christ alone could make atonement, for this Man is truly God! Though His chosen, ransomed people could not, would not seek His face, God’s purpose, unchanged; and He’ll save all the chosen race!
Therefore we, the sons of Jacob, though we’re weak and full of shame, Are secure and have assurance. — God, unchanged, remains the same! Praise the Lord! He never changes! Come, extol His worthy name! Yesterday, today, forever, Behold, God remains the same!
Happy Thanksgiving!
“All things are of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:18)
Some of God’s saints seem to have trials and temptations, one upon the heels of another. Usually those believers who have the most difficult and most constant trials seem to bear them well. They are always an encouragement to me. In the light of the heavy, heavy trials some believers bear with such grace, I get a little disturbed when people get all bent out of shape and complain about hangnails and dripping faucets! When trials and temptations assail our souls, nothing is more helpful and comforting than the blessed knowledge of God’s all-wise, universal providence.
“All things.” — These two words are used together in the Word of God two hundred and twenty times. More often than not, they are used in some connection with the Lord our God. Whenever we read these words in Holy Scripture, or think about them in relation to our God, we ought always to remember that when God says “all things,” he means “all things.” He does not mean some things, or most things or even all good things. He means “all things.” The Word of God asserts emphatically and constantly that “all things” are under the absolute control of the Lord our God.
“All things are of God.” — Just how far are we to take Paul’s statement here? Carry those words just as far, just as high, just as deep, just as wide as your imagination will allow; and when you have reached the utmost end of your imagination, as someone once said, you will only have “begun to commence, to get started!” Take this blessed, inspired declaration just as far back as eternity past, and just as far forward as eternity future. Take it up to the highest heaven. Take it down to the lowest hell. Take it around the world, through the world and through all the ages of time. When all that is, has been and shall be has been considered, write this title over the picture and this explanation for the story — “All things are of God.”
In the creation of the universe, “all things are of God.” It is written in Revelation 4:11, — “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” In the wise and orderly disposition of providence, “all things are of God.” In Romans 11:36 the Spirit of God declares, — “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” In the salvation of our souls, “all things are of God.” Here in 2 Corinthians 5, that is obviously what Paul is specifically talking about. Look at any one aspect of salvation, or look at the whole package of grace. However you look at it, “Salvation is of the Lord!” Election, predestination and redemption are of the Lord. Forgiveness, pardon and justification are of the Lord. Reconciliation, regeneration and sanctification are of the Lord. Repentance, faith and conversion are of the Lord. Preservation, resurrection and glorification are of the Lord. “All things are of God!” — Everything that is, has been or shall hereafter be is of God. Let every child of God rejoice. All things are under the dominion of and come to pass according to the will of our heavenly Father! — “All things are of God!”
All Things are for God
Proverbs 16:4
Nothing is more delightful and nothing more comforting to God’s saints in this world than the realization that all things are under the absolute control of our great and glorious God. And nothing inspires us to bear our trials and troubles, sicknesses, sorrows and bereavements here with patience like the fact that all things are for the glory of our God.
“The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.” — I do not presently see what God is doing in all things; but I am assured that in all things the Lord is making for himself an everlasting and a glorious name. Isaiah tells us that the Lord God led Israel “by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them;” and he did so “to make himself an everlasting name.” He “led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble, as a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name” (Isaiah 63:12-14).
In everything that is, has been, or shall hereafter be the Lord our God is making himself an everlasting and glorious name. He who raised up Pharaoh and cast him down in the Red Sea for the glory of his own great name brings all things to pass exactly as he has purposed for the everlasting praise and glory of his great name. — All things are for God.
Frequently, people point to specific things and say, “How can that bring glory to God?” Unbelieving people point to sickness, war, famine, pestilence, crimes and other evils and say, “If there is a God in heaven, how can these things be?” Once, I even heard a preacher say, after considering a great disaster, “God has a lot of things to answer for.” What a horrible statement! The very thought of man calling God Almighty to the bar of human judgment is incredibly blasphemous!
I readily acknowledge that I do not see and cannot explain how isolated events, considered by themselves will bring glory to God. But I do understand what God says in his Word; and I rejoice to believe him. Somehow, when everything that must be has been, when all the purpose of our great God has been perfectly fulfilled, everything will render praise and honor to him.
In Ephesians l:10-11 the Holy Spirit informs us that all things are disposed of by God in time according to his own purpose of grace in eternity in divine predestination. Everything that comes to pass in time was predestinated by God in eternity, and is brought to pass according to God’s purpose for the salvation of his elect and the glory of his own great name. Happy is that soul which has learned to trust and rests in the purpose and providence of God. All things come to pass exactly according to the eternal purpose of our God for the glory of our God.
Grace Bulletin
November 22, 2009
Grace Baptist Church of Danville 2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438 Telephone (859) 236-8235 - E-Mail don@donfortner.com
Donald S. Fortner, Pastor
Schedule of Regular Services
Sunday 10:00 A.M. Bible Classes 10:30 A.M. Morning Worship Service 6:30 P.M. Evening Worship Service
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